


Conversation with Heartache

by Infinitychanges



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Slow burn in a way, Trini goes through some heavy feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-23 01:56:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11392974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infinitychanges/pseuds/Infinitychanges
Summary: She doesn’t tell them how all she thinks of when she tries to morph is how she wants to prove everyone wrong. She doesn’t say how the disappointment in Zordon’s voice rings through her mind each time they stand on the morphing grid. Nor does she talk about how she wonders why the coin that sits in her pocket chose her of all people. She’s not strong. She’s not a mighty warrior. She’s not worthy or deserving of the coin.Heartache and Trini were mutually exclusive. So why the thought of failing at being a Power Ranger hurting so much?





	Conversation with Heartache

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> So this is my first story for the Power Rangers fandom and I wanted to share it with all of you. The movie inspired me to start writing again and I figured why not make my first story a Trimberly one? I hope you guys like it!
> 
> I want to thank my good friend Mary who I met through the fandom for all her help writing this because if it wasn't for her I would not have been able to finish. You've already read the story as it came together but this one is for you Mary. For being such an amazing person and for believing that I could finish this. Just saying you guys should check her out on Tumblr @mxr-bxxr.

_Heartache: emotional_ _pain_ _or_ _distress;_ _sorrow;_ _grief;_ _anguish_

Have you ever experienced heartache? The kind of ache where you can feel your stomach drop and hear your heart shatter. The kind of ache that takes all of the air right out of your lungs and leaves you gasping for a breath. Have you ever experienced what it is like to double over in agony, clutching at your chest violently because you want the pain in your heart to go away? Has the pain ever been so consistent that you wish for something to come and take it away just so you could breathe? Has the pain always been there that you grow used to it to the point where it just becomes a dull ache?

Heartache and Trini Gomez are old friends. 

She is five years old when she experiences her very first heartache.

Mr. Bubbles, her pet fish, (OK, she was five years old. Not an age where anyone is the most creative) wasn’t moving and she spent fifteen minutes tapping his bowl to get him to wake up. She couldn’t understand why he wasn’t moving or why he wasn’t responding to her calls. She’s about to reach into the bowl to poke him with her finger when Pap í walks into her room asking her to come downstairs for lunch. He sees her with her hand about an inch from the water and asks,

“Mija, what’re you doing?”

Trini looks up eyes sparkling with childish innocence, shooting her pap í a lopsided gap-toothed grin before replying, “Mr. Bubbles is sleeping and I wanted to wake him up.”

She was too young to understand the look that crosses her Pap í ’s face when he hears her words. What she does remember are the words that came out his mouth when he saw the fish floating in the bowl.

_ “Mija, Mr. Bubbles is in heaven now” _

The tears come before she can stop them. Had Trini been older, she would have realized that her beloved fish dying would be the start of a complete and utterly shitty time in her life. But she was five; what did she know about heartache? That day, only one thing was certain: She had lost her first best friend.

/

It happens again two years later.

Trini is seven years old and starting her first day of second grade. She is so proud of her pretty yellow dress that she had picked out specifically for her first day and the bows in her hair. Mam í took pictures before she drove Trini to school. She didn’t understand why Mam í was crying, but she guessed it was because she was happy due to the smile on her face (Can you blame her seven-year-old mind?)  Next thing Trini knows, she’s walking into the classroom. Her teacher, Ms. Brown, smiles as she introduces the smiling young girl to the class and tells her to take a seat next to a girl named Amy (Or at least that’s what Trini thinks the girl’s name is). 

Trini takes her seat and introduces herself like her Mam í taught her (Full name and pretty smile, like all ladies should).

“Hi! I’m Trinidad Gomez.” She smiles brightly, proudly showing the gap in her teeth.

Instead of smiling back and introducing herself, the other girl just points and laughs at her.

 “You have chipmunk teeth!”

Trini pouts at her response. She knows she had a gap in her teeth, but she couldn’t have chipmunk teeth. That’s not what her Mam í says, at least.  Amy just keeps laughing and points her finger at Trini’s dress. The dress was her favorite because when she she saw it her first thought was “Oh pretty dress” and when her parents saw it they complimented her by saying yellow was her color.

“Why are you wearing yellow? It doesn’t look good on you.”

(That comment would later be extremely ironic to Trini). 

As she felt tears stinging her eyes, all she could think of was how it hurt to hear someone make fun of her favorite yellow dress. 

Later on that day, when she got home from school, she threw the yellow dress out and vowed to never wear a dress or the color yellow again.

/

The worst heartache that Trini had felt came when she was fourteen years old and was delivered in the form of a double whammy.

Trini had always loved writing. Writing had always provided her with a release from how grueling she felt her life was. Writing was there for her when she first started to realize that she was looking at girls in the same way she was always told she should look at boys. It was there for her when she couldn’t figure out what she felt. Writing was there to help her sort her thoughts when she saw a girl who made her heart flutter, when a boy made her go “WOW”, or when she was mulling over her sexuality. It was where she could escape her confusion and just be Trini even for a little while. Her journal was her friend because it kept all of her deepest secrets that she would have never shared with anyone. She never would have guessed that her journal would have been the reason why her life would go to shit and it all started when she wrote about Blair Reynolds for the first time. 

She had met Blair at freshman orientation completely by accident. Trini had been standing off to the side of the gymnasium, not really conversing with the other freshman around her, when she felt someone bump into her. She turned around absolutely ready to tell them off, but all words caught in her throat when she saw who the culprit was. Standing in front of her was a five-foot seven-inch beauty who looked like she stepped off of the cover of a fashion magazine. It didn’t occur to Trini that someone could look that good at such a young age because come on if you skip the awkward phase that everyone goes through then it’s just so unfair. 

(Trini knew that staring was rude, but she couldn’t help it; especially when the person was just so goddamn pretty). 

She realized two things at once —t he first being that her heart was thudding rapidly against her chest and the second being that the prettiest girl she had seen at that point was talking to her. Somehow she managed to get herself together enough to catch the ending of what the girl in front of her was saying.

“Hi I’m Blair. What’s your name?” 

“Trini Gomez”

That afternoon Trini would go back to her trusty journal and write down the gayest possible entry that she had written up to that point because Blair was just so damn perfect. (She would later regret doing that because it caused the utmost shittest experience of her life to begin.) She stashed the journal away thinking that it was safe and nobody would ever find it (Boy was she wrong. So fucking wrong).

It was about a month into freshman year and Trini was settling in pretty well if she would say so herself. She made it onto the varsity rugby team with Blair and found herself having more “friends” than she had ever had at that point. Her grades were amazing and she was, for the first time, loving life. But what goes up must come down at some point and boy did it come crashing down.

Trini had come home from a grueling practice to a relatively quiet house. She had called out to her parents but they didn’t answer so she walked straight to her room with the intention of plopping down on her bed and falling asleep. She had reached the top of the stairs while whistling Jesus Can’t Play Rugby because the team had just learned it and it was stuck in her head. Turning the corner she reaches for the handle of her bedroom door only to find that her door is open. She looks up and the what she sees causes the tune she was whistling to immediately die from her lips.

There standing right in front of her with an unreadable expression on her face is her mother and in her hand is Trini’s journal. Trini knew that her mother had read everything because she could make out one of her mother’s fingers stopped on the last page that she had written on. She just stands there staring at her mother for seems like hours but in reality was just a minute or so before her mother opens her mouth.

“What is this Trinidad?”

Trini just barely manages to suppress the wince that tries to force its way out of her body when she hears her mother say her first name. She knows that she should probably say something but no words seem to make their way out. It didn’t even matter because her mother just kept talking. Her heart was beating so loudly that it was hurting her chest but it was drowning out her mother’s words which she was thankful for. She watched as her mother’s eyes got increasingly hard with every single word that came out of her mouth. Trini could see her mouth moving but could not hear any word that she was saying. It wasn’t until her mother stepped closer to yell in her face that Trini was able to hear the words that her mother was saying. 

“I didn’t raise you this way. It is unnatural and wrong.”

“Your father and I raised you better than this”

“I knew that I shouldn’t have let you play rugby. I bet one of those seniors caused this”

“This is a phase Trinidad. You are not gay”

“Tomorrow, you will meet with Father Almeda and he will fix this”

The words were coming out of her mother’s mouth so fast that Trini couldn’t keep up and honestly it was beginning to give her a headache. All she could do was stand there and take the  verbal beating that her mother was unleashing on her. She clenched her jaw and steeled her gaze to look over her mother’s shoulder at the wall because she was desperate to look at something that wouldn’t gaze back at her with hatred in their face. That turned out to be a bad idea because she felt her mother grab her chin to harshly move her face back so it was looking at her.

“Do you hear me Trinidad Gomez? This is not who you are and I will not allow it."

Trini couldn’t manage to get words out so she settled for a weak nod. Her mother was too wrapped in her anger to realize that Trini had not answered her but as she stepped away from Trini, she did something that shook Trini to her core. Trini watched as her mother clenched the journal in one hand and ripped every single page of Trini’s feelings out. She watched as every single page was ripped into tiny shreds, every word being reduced to a fraction of what it was intended to be, every feeling being ripped straight from the one place that Trini had felt safe. Once the last page was reduced to nothing but scraps of a once beautiful book, June looked at Trini and threw the shreds at her. Trini watched as the pages that once held her deepest fears, feelings, and desires floated to the ground. The mangled pieces of paper mocking her as they fell to the ground while sounding a lot like glass being shattered. It would occur to her after the last piece fell that the sound that she was hearing was the sound of her heart breaking completely.

June Gomez took one last look at her daughter, let out a sound that could have been interpreted as disappointment and disgust, and walked out. Trini heard her door slam but did not move. She just stared at the shreds of her on the floor. The words her mother yelled at her flowing through her head but none louder than  _ “This is just a phase”  _ and  _ “You are not gay” _ .

/

It took another 2 months before the double whammy of heartache reached its climax with a loud and resounding bang.  

Trini didn’t tell anyone about what happened with her mother. June avoided her like the plague so it worked out on both ends. Trini decided to keep her mother happy by keeping a schedule. School, Practice, Home, repeat. At school, she kept up appearances with her team and her friendship with Blair. Despite just knowing each other for three months, Blair had decided that they were best-friends. Trini had never had an actual best friend before (she no longer counted her dead fish Mr. Bubbles as a best-friend anymore) so she immediately accepted.

(She would later categorize her decision to become friends with Blair was the #1 dumbest thing that she had ever done)

Trini was many things but she sure as hell wasn’t an idiot. She knew that she had feelings for Blair and it scared the shit out of her. Mostly because she did not want her mother to find out and potentially eviscerate her. So she did what she was slowly becoming a pro at and she hid her feelings.It wasn’t until the weekly night Rugby team get together that she realized that she wouldn’t be able to hide it anymore. It was her turn to have the team social at her house (she was surprised that her mother had agreed but her papi had managed to convince her) and she thought that since she was in her own home that she would be exempt from any shitstorm that could have happened.

Boy was she wrong. Like so wrong.

(She would also later categorize that night as the second dumbest thing that she had ever done. Even though it wasn’t fully her fault.)

For some godforsaken reason, the team decided that playing spin the bottle was the best game to play at the social. Trini remembered thinking “ _What are we in 6th grade?_ ” as she spun the bottle and watched it spin widly before it finally came to a screeching halt in front of none other than, Blair. Her teammates whooped and hollered loudly as they teased “Kiss her! Kiss her!”. Now she could classify her next action as peer pressure but she would have been lying. 

(Trini, after that night, soon learned that she was not a very good liar)

It happened so fast that before she knew it or could stop herself, her lips were on Blair’s. It felt right but that feeling of things falling into place was soon replaced by a loud, resounding slap. It took Trini .5 seconds to realize the slap had connected with her cheek. And another .5 seconds to realize that Blair was standing up and shouting “Don’t kiss me, I’m not some dyke like you!”

She watched as Blair ran out of her house and was followed one after the other by all of their teammates. None of them stopped to see if she was okay, they all just left as fast as they could. Trini stays seated where she was and that is where she is found 20 minutes later by her mother. She didn’t even realize that her mother came in until she looked up to see her standing there with steam coming out of her ears, fuming about how she got a call from Blair’s mother who told her that Trini had kissed her daughter without her consent. It took her .5 seconds to realize that her mother would not listen to her side nor did she believe her when Trini told her that she was pressured into kissing Blair by their teammates.

(She would later vaguely remember her mother saying that this was the last straw and that her daughter would not be a gay and a pervert)

Trini isn’t even able to get much of a word in before she feels the second slap of the night collide with her other cheek. The stinging of her cheeks hurt way less than wondering what event of the night hurt more, feeling the last of her heart break because of Blair or the fact that her mother thinks she throws herself at other girls.

The next morning, her family moves to Texas and so begins the time of having no roots.

/

The only saving grace of the absolute shitshow that is Trini’s life are her little brothers, Mateo and Diego. They are the light in the dark that constantly surrounds her. They may be annoying at times but Trini loves them with everything that she is. She would protect them from absolutely anything but Trini never thought that she would have to protect them from their own parents. June and Antonio Gomez were both hard working and very religious people. Ever since Trini’s mom forced her out of the proverbial closet, things at home have been tense to say the least. June refuses to acknowledge that her daughter isn’t girly and it is never mentioned that Trini is queer. 

Trini knows that her papí is aware of her sexuality but he has never said a word to her about it nor has he ever stopped her mother from the attacks that she inflicts upon Trini. Everything Trini does is wrong. Her hair, wrong. Her clothes, wrong. Her attitude, wrong. The way she speaks, wrong. She can handle the shit that gets thrown her way. In fact, she prefers it that way so her little brothers don’t have to deal with it. What she can’t handle however, is being told that she is a bad example for her brothers. She didn’t even know that was said until her brother’s came into her room after they had moved from Texas to Ohio.

She had just finished getting her room together when she heard a soft knock and the door to her room open. She turned around to see Mateo and Diego standing in her doorway looking so sad that it made her heart clench painfully in her chest. She didn’t even need to tell them to sit on her bed because the minute she turned fully to face them, they were already halfway to her bed. They both climbed onto her bed and sat on either side of Trini. She wrapped her arms around them and held them close to her. It was a while before any of them said anything until Mateo spoke up.

“Trini, do mam í and pap í hate you?”

She has absolutely no idea how to answer that because out of all things she expected him to say that was not it. She can’t say that she’s almost 100% certain that their mami does but the jury is still out on their papi. After some back and forth debating in her head, Trini decides that she is going to act like she has no idea what he is talking about. 

“No mam í and pap í don’t hate me. Why would you think that?”

“Because we hear when mam í and pap í argue. They always bring you up and how you are not doing right. Because mam í tells us that you are not a good example for us.”

 That stuns Trini momentarily. She’s rarely ever at a loss for words because she chooses to observe rather than speak but right now she is at a loss. She never expected to hear that her parents think that she is a bad example nor did she think the person who would tell her would be her little brother. Trini keeps trying and failing to even get words out because every time she opens her mouth, all she can muster are little puffs of air. So she opts to stay quiet. She knows that she should’ve said something, anything really, to ease her brothers’ fears. To let them know that she is a good example and that she loves them unconditionally. But she couldn’t even get a single fucking word out. It is quiet again and Trini is thankful because it gives her time to get her thoughts together. The quiet is broken when Mateo speaks up again.

“Trini, why do mam í and pap í keep moving us?”

She swallows harshly because how does one tell their little brothers that their parents are homophobic and keep moving them because their solution to Trini’s sexuality is bouncing around? This time, she is a little more prepared to answer them so she decides that they are too young to know the truth and opts to tell them a lie (she knows that she’s not a good liar but her brothers really don’t need to know what is really going on).  

“I don’t know Mateo but it won’t be like this for long.”

Diego is the one to speak this time.

“Are you sure? Cause I don’t like leaving the friends I make at school” 

Trini smiles softly because her brothers are so innocent and pure. She just wants to protect them from the world that has already caused her so much pain and she is only fifteen years old. Leaning down, she plants a soft kiss on each of their heads before bringing her hands up to ruffle their hair a bit.

“I’m with you guys on that. I hope that this is the last time that we ever move.” 

(Trini is wrong, once again. A few months after that conversation, they move once more)

/

Angel Grove was different than all the other tows that Trini had moved to. By small town standards, it was small. The was a Krispy Kreme which was a plus, a Boston Market, and a few other cute mom & pop shops that were scattered throughout the town square. There was a church too which Trini was almost 100% sure was why her mother picked Angel Grove. Though her parents would say that they moved because of work, it was a little ridiculous to even think that a job would move someone around that much. Since Angel Grove is a small town, that usually meant small minded people. Disregarding the fact that it was in California, Angel Grove seemed like the place that you’d go if you wanted peace and quiet or if you were running from something. (The latter ironically enough was the reason why Trini was here)

Walking through the halls of Angel Grove High School, however, was not all that different than the other schools she’d been too. Jocks and cheerleaders rule the school. The nerds get picked on. Everyone else falls into assorted categories: band geeks, punks, stoners, etc. Knowing what she knows about high school, Trini shouldn’t have been all that surprised that in the ever  cliché culture that is Angel Grove High, there were some raging homophobes.

(Correction: Angel Grove was not different, it was so much worse)

Yet as Trini stared at the word  _ DYKE  _ so nicely spray painted on her locker, she felt a multitude of emotions. The most forefront emotion was surprise because she didn’t think that she was noticeable enough for someone to even question her sexuality. The second emotion was numbness because the only people she’d expected homophobic comments like that was from her parents. The third emotion was confusion because in the other towns that she had lived in nothing like this had ever happened. (And she had lived in the deep trenches of good ‘ol Texas where Jesus very well could have been her neighbor) The last emotion was a vague sense of anger and that’s the one that surprised her the most. She had expected the first thing that she’d feel would be explosive anger because who the fuck does that shit? It’s 2017 for fucks sakes being gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc. is not a taboo like it was in the 50’s.  _ “Guess Angel Grove didn’t get the memo” _ Trini thinks bitterly. The word stares back at her almost mockingly as if to say “No one is ever going to ever accept you” or even more cruelly “You brought this on yourself”. She clenches jaw and balls her hand into a fist in a desperate attempt to ease the thoughts running through her head.

Trini is so lost in her head that she doesn’t realize someone is standing right next to her until she sees a hand with paper towels in it come up to start cleaning the word off her locker. She turns her head to the left and sees a tall African American boy with a grayish blue shirt standing right next to her. He looks at her, smiles brightly, and extends his other hand that is full of more paper towels to her. Wordlessly she grabs them and begins helping him clean the word off. They work in relative silence getting each letter erased but it isn’t until they reach the letter Y that the boy speaks.

“I’m real sorry about the kids here. 99.9% of them are real jerks. Don’t really know why they’re so mean though. They always seem to pick on those who are smaller than them. I get picked on too but I’m bigger than most of the bullies so I guess maybe height isn’t a factor. You’re kind of small though so it sort of would make sense in your case. Wait! I’m sorry if me saying you’re small offends you. It’s just you are kind of very short but that’s okay though cause it fits you. But that’s besides the point. I’m really sorry that someone put this awful word on your locker. I don’t really know what it means but judging by your face it isn’t a good word?”

He trails slightly and looks at Trini in a way that she assumes is him searching for an answer to his question. She nods her head slightly because it’s all that she can really muster. When he sees that he was right in his assumption, he frowns briefly before cracking a small smile and continues on talking.

“You know, I really like your beanie. It’s really cool and it fits your style. I couldn’t wear a beanie because it wouldn’t look right. My head is a bit small so I think it would look weird. My mom says that my head is perfect but I think she just says that because she’s my mom, you know? But on you it fits who you are. Not that I know who you are exactly. I’ve noticed you throughout school and I always wondered why you were so quiet. We have English together and I see how you just sit in the back not really talking to anyone. I also notice how the football players and cheerleaders always say mean stuff about how you look. I think that your clothes make you look like a rebel. Kind of like the female James Dean. You know Rebel Without A Cause? I do think you’d be really cool as a female James Dean, just need a leather jacket and you’d be perfect! It’s really unique which is a good thing.”

Trini smiles softly because here is a boy who knows nothing about her yet he still gives her a compliment which she thinks may be the first one that she has gotten she was seven. She feels bad because they have English together and he obviously noticed her but here she is not knowing who is. She wants to ask him what his name is but doesn’t want to interrupt him so let’s him continue talking. 

“My mom always says that the world needs more people who are true to themselves. Because the world is so dark at times so it needs people who can spread some light, you know? Like here at Angel Grove…WAIT!”

Trini is startled by the boy’s sudden outburst. She almost drops the paper towels in her hand but manages to catch them as she turns to look at him. 

“I just realized that I never introduced myself. I’m sorry about that! My name is William Cranston. Or just Billy Cranston. Kids used to call me Billy Cramston as in crams tons of  crayons in his butt. Which I never did by the way! That would be physically impossible but anyways, what’s your name?”

“Trini. Trini Gomez.”

Billy, as you now know him, smiles and claps his hands together excitedly. Trini tries really hard to not find it to be the most heartwarming thing, she really does, but ultimately she fails. She notices that Billy seems to be that person who just makes you feel at ease. He also seems to be that person that can just make anyone, even the toughest person, smile because of how precious he is. Trini finds that with Billy’s rambling she no longer feels the crushing weight of that dark cloud that was hanging over her earlier.

“Trini. I like that name! Does it stand for anything? I just ask because I’ve never heard anyone else have that name before. It’s...what is the word I’m looking for...sui generis. That means of its own kind, in a class by itself. Which is exactly who you seem to be. I really like that about you.”

“You’re sui generis too Billy which I also like.”

“My mom says that I’m special. I’m on the spectrum which means that I can’t pick up on social cues or jokes or anything like that. That’s why I get bullied a lot because kids say that I’m different.”

Trini feels an anger unlike anything she has ever felt before spread through her body when she hears him say that. She just met Billy officially but he is a goddamn angel who deserves all the happiness in the world.

“Your mom is right Billy. You are special but that just means that you are one of a kind. All the kids here who pick on your for that are just idiots and are missing out because of it.” 

“I like you Trini. Can we be friends? We don’t have to but I think it would be really cool if we were.”

Trini smiles brightly at him. 

“Yeah Billy we can be friends. I would like that.”

Billy lightly squeals and claps his hands together again. Trini doesn’t even fight the smile that appears on her face. They both turn back to finish cleaning Trini’s locker only to find that the word is already gone. Trini breathes out a sigh of relief and turns to face Billy completely.

“Thank you Billy for helping me get that word off of my locker.”   


“You’re welcome! I saw you standing there staring at it so I decided to help you because I didn’t want you to be sad.”

Trini wonders who created such an angel because damn Billy Cranston is a gift. She reminds herself to thank his parents if she ever meets them for bringing such a beautiful soul into this world. She grabs her bag and says “I have to go home but thank you again for your help Billy.” 

“Okay! See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah Billy I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Trini starts to walk towards the exit of the school. She is about half-way down the hall when she hears Billy call out.

“Hey Trini!”

She turns around to look at him. Her eyebrow is raised slightly as she says “Yes Billy?” 

“You’re that .1% here at Angel Grove who is genuine.”

/

Except they weren’t friends. Not really at least.  

Trini wanted to be friends with Billy but the problem was that she wasn’t sure how to be friends with him. She wasn’t even sure that she knew how to have friends. (The whole always moving thing makes it extremely hard to be friends with anyone.) So Trini does what she does best and that is avoid. She figures that the best thing to do is lay low and do what is asked of her because she really isn’t even sure that Angel Grove will be permanent. Everyday was the same routine over and over: wake up, avoid her parents, go to school, avoid the cheerleaders and jocks, go home, and do her homework. Having some semblance of a schedule would help Trini not think about anything. Or so she thought. The issue with avoiding things is that at some point, the very thing you try to avoid finds you and messes everything up.

The names on her locker didn’t stop after the first time. It became a bi-weekly occurrence that Trini had started to accept after the second time. Each time the words were written, Trini became numb to seeing them. Seeing the derogatory words sprayed across her locker became more of a “oh again” feeling rather than a “what the fuck is this” feeling. The insults that were thrown at her with each name that appeared got less creative and more mean as time went on. She had heard it all “you’re a freak, get away from me”, “I don’t want to catch the gay”, “you’re going to hell”. Trini wasn’t even sure who had come up with the insults but she had to give it to them, they wanted to hurt her and they did a spectacular job at it.

Trini’s personal favorite was “people like you are not welcome here.” As if her liking girls made her some sort of zoo animal that needed to be kept away from society. That line was the preferred method of insult by head cheerleader or thinks she’s head cheerleader, Amanda. Amanda was Angel Grove’s version of Regina George. She even had her little group of minions, Harper who was like Karen but meaner. Kimberly Hart who was like Gretchen but quieter about her mean tendencies. Amanda and her ragtag group of bitches as Trini liked to call them loved making everyone else’s lives miserable. Amanda was the worst out of the three whether it was pushing some poor unfortunate soul into a locker (how cliché). Or threatening any common person, not of cheerleader or jock descent, if they even dared to look in her direction. Amanda always found a way to be a raging bitch. She had no idea why Amanda decided to target her because as far as she could remember they had never come in contact since Trini moved to Angel Grove. But even though they had never crossed paths, Amanda still seemed to target her especially. The reason she was getting bullied could’ve been her clothes, her attitude, the way she walks through the halls with a stoic look on her face, or something that Trini had no idea she did. Whatever it was, Amanda hated it and made sure Trini knew. Even though Amanda seemed to hate her the most, Trini noticed that whenever she was cornered by her, she was never alone. Harper was always there egging her on by just annoyingly repeating everything Amanda said and laughing when she thought something was funny. Kimberly, however, never seemed to take part in the insults but when she was around to hear them, she didn’t exactly go out of her way to stop them. She would stand there and stare as Amanda would throw every mean thing she could think of at Trini or walk away when she noticed that Amanda was floating on the very thin line between mean and derogatory insults. Despite the fact that Kimberly never said a bad word towards her, Trini was 100% certain that she was there every time Amanda would deface her locker. So in Trini’s mind, she was just as guilty as her friends were. 

The football players were as cruel as Amanda and her croonies but nowhere near as bad. The lewd comments about them wanting to turn her straight or take part in sex with her and another girl, ended up becoming background noise to Trini. She would attempt to block them out by blasting her music as she walked through the halls but somehow the comments always found a way to pass through. It amazed her how boys think that their penis is so magical that it could turn  a lesbian or a girl who likes girls into a straight girl because no that is definitely not how that works. Trini could see that the  idiots thought their comments were funny or entertaining due to the obnoxious high fives and snickers that would go back and forth between their clique. She did notice that one football player would never take part in the lewd comments being thrown her way. Jason Scott, the quarterback and golden boy of Angel Grove, would always just sit there and from time to time give her a small apologetic grimace. While he wouldn’t say anything, he never went out of his way to stop his teammates. So like Kimberly Hart, she found Jason to be just as guilty as the dumbass boys he called his teammates.

She wouldn’t say that she hated Jason Scott or Kimberly Hart because she didn’t know them but she would say that she really fucking disliked them. 

(Little did she know, that they would soon become two very important people in her life)

/

Surprises, to normal people, were supposed to cause happiness or confusion. Trini, however, is the farthest thing from normal so surprises were no longer surprises to her. They were no longer “oh my gosh, are you serious” instead they were more like “wow is that it”. She was very rarely thrown for a loop when life decided to throw her another curveball at one hundred miles an hour. She had prepared herself for pretty much everything that life could throw at her. Homophobic parents, piece of cake. Bitchy cheerleaders and dumb jocks, a walk in the park. Moving from state to state, been there and done that. But she was in no way prepared for Zack Taylor shaped curve ball that hit her square in the face. Literally. 

Coming to the mountains was the only way that Trini could take a moment and breathe. She could let go of all the crap that happened in her week and just relax. She could look down upon Angel Grove and contemplate every way that she could get out without ever coming back. It was peaceful which is why she loved it so much. What she didn’t expect was for her peace to be disrupted by an annoying Asian boy chucking a metal can across the mountain. She was just minding her business one afternoon, staring out at the city of Angel Grove and praying for the day that she could hightail it out of there to come. Normally Trini was aware of her surroundings but today she decided to let herself get absorbed into her surroundings. Which is why she didn’t hear “WATCH OUT!” or see the metal can hurtling towards her. It wasn’t until it hit the side of her head and knocked her to the ground that she was brought back to present time.

“What the fuck?” Trini says as she picks up the can and wonders how it hit her.

“Hey! Sorry about that” 

Trini looks up and sees a tall, Asian boy, wearing a worn leather jacket staring at her with wide eyes. She rolls her eyes when she realizes it’s the boy who seems to always be on top of the abandoned train car across from her spot on the mountain.

“Be careful where you throw your garbage next time,” she spits out angrily. 

The boy smirks at her and it’s actually really infuriating.

“Crazy Girl has some bite to her.”

“What the fuck did you just call me?”

“I called you Crazy Girl, Crazy Girl. Don’t think I haven’t seen you up here before. Always sitting by the edge of the mountain doing yoga or whatever.”

“Meditation, you idiot. I’ve seen you too, homeboy. Always on that train car just staring at me.” 

The boy grins widely at Trini and she can see his eyes glint mischievously. 

“So you’ve noticed all this?” he says as he rakes his hand down his body.

“Unfortunately, and I’m not impressed” Trini shoots back.

The boy laughs out loudly which only infuriates Trini even more.

“You know Crazy Girl? I really like you,” he says.

Trini stares at him blankly. She vaguely wonders how in the hell the universe managed to decide that this annoying boy was the person that she would run into today. She curses every deity that she can think of because she just wanted one moment of quiet and this idiot in front of her has ruined that.

“The name’s Zack. What’s yours, Crazy Girl?”  

“None of your business.”

“Aw don’t be like that. Just tell me.” 

Trini scoffs because who does he think he is? She begins to walk away from Zack because she’s had about enough and she needs to get back home anyways.

“Wait where are you going?” 

“Far away from here and away from you” 

She keeps walking, rolling her eyes when she feels him watching her as she leaves.

“But I still don’t know your name!” 

She’s about sixty feet in front of him when she puts her middle finger up and says “Trini”. Vaguely, she wonders if he heard her but then realizes that she doesn’t really care that much.

(After that encounter, she told herself that she would never go back to the mountain)

/

As per usual, she lied to herself. She kept going back to the mountain. Even if she knew that Zack was there, she would still go because it was really the only place she had to herself. She did a better job at avoiding Zack than she did avoiding anything else in her life. She thought that she was doing a good job at it too but then life decided to hit her again with another curveball. This time the curveball was in the form of an explosion and a coin that somehow made her into a superhero? Said curveball also managed to bring Billy, Zack, Jason, Kimberly, and her together at the same time to find the coins but it also caused security to look for them so she did what she did best and ran.

She wasn’t sure what exactly the coin was. All she knew was that when the sirens at the mines went off, she took off and didn’t expect any of the others to follow. Except Kimberly followed, which was confusing. She ran as fast as she could to get away from the mine (later she would realize that she was running a lot faster than she had previously). Running could only take her but so far, so when Jason pulled her into the car driven by Billy she didn’t fight it. That’s the last thing she remembered before the train hit. 

After finding the coin that shined bright yellow, she knew that something had happened that she couldn’t explain and that it would change her life forever.

She didn’t realize exactly how much her life would change. 

The beeping of her alarm is what wakes Trini up. She reaches out to shut it off but notices two things at once. The first being a vague sound of crushing plastic and the second being that her hand is no longer on the alarm clock anymore. Trini lifts her head up and is shocked to see her hand holding what used to be the alarm. Dropping the mangled remains, she immediately shoots out of bed in terror.  _ “What the hell?” _ she thinks to herself as she looks around her room in a desperate bid to figure out what is happening. Spotting the jacket she was wearing at the mine, she walks over to it and searches the pockets. The heavy weight of the coin that she found settles in her hand as she takes it out to inspect it.  _ “What are you?” _ she thinks as she twirls the coin between her fingers. What bothers Trini is that it doesn’t look sinister, it’s just a coin that shines bright yellow. Deciding that she doesn’t want to look at the coin anymore, she sets it down on her nightstand. She grabs her headphones with the intent of drowning out the past few hours with some heavy metal. Unfortunately as she does, she doesn’t realize how hard she grabs them to put them on her head until she hears the middle snap. Trini takes a deep breath and slowly brings the two pieces of her headphones in front of her. 

_ “Fuck me, why is this happening? Seriously, my favorite headphones?”  _

Trini tosses what is left of the headphones on to her bed and begins to pace in the middle of her room. A thousand different thoughts are running through her head. She wonders if the others are having similar experiences. She can’t help but think that the coin is the reason why she even made it out alive after the train hit the van. She crosses over and picks the coin up again. Holding it up to the light, she suddenly feels the need to throw up. Racing to her bedroom door, she throws it open and only vaguely notices how the knob dents in her haste to leave. She barely makes it to toilet before she’s already emptying the contents of her stomach into it. The coin begins to vibrate eerily in her hand so she drops it to the floor. 

_ “What the hell is happening to me?” _ is all Trini thinks before she blacks out right in the middle of the bathroom.

/

She didn’t expect that the coin sitting in her pocket would lead her and the others to a prehistoric ship buried deep underground. Nor did she expect for a talking robot named Alpha or pixelated head on a wall named Zordon to appear and tell her that she was a Power Ranger. What she certainly didn’t anticipate from the whole ordeal and never wants to see again is the vision Zordon shows them of a gross woman named Rita. She could have dealt with everything else but that vision where all she felt and smelt was death, was something that she never wanted to experience again.

It all becomes too much for her to deal with so when she asks Zordon if the door would open for her, she ran through it and the others followed her. She kept running until she got to the reflecting pool and found herself wheezing not from the running but from all the information that was thrown her way. It takes her a lot longer to catch her breath than she wanted because after the craziness of the day she just wanted to go home and sleep for the foreseeable future. But life as always has other plans for her. She finds herself leaning against one of the rocks when Jason rounds the corner looking surprised that they were all still there. He looks at her and asks her who she is. Trini has to bite back a laugh because the irony of that question isn’t lost on her. She’s about to answer when she hears Zack chime in.

“Look, her name is DeeDee…”

“Trini,” she says as she cuts him off.

Kimberly decides that it would be a good time to open her mouth.

“She’s new at school. Transferred in about a month ago and we have English together, right?” she says while looking at Trini to see if she was right.

Trini stares at her for a brief moment. She wonders if Kimberly is playing games with her because there is no way that she just suddenly forgets that she knows exactly who she is. She chooses to ignore the vague pain that floods her chest when Kimberly pretends that she doesn’t know her.

“I’ve been at Angel Grove for over a year now. We have Biology together, good talk” she spits out angrily.

She watches as Kimberly’s face falls and hurt floats through her eyes for a brief moment before it’s gone. Trini mentally pats herself on the back for being able to elicit such a reaction from Kimberly. She forgets about it when she hears Jason saying that something is up and the only place that they can find answers is on the ship. She tunes him out after five seconds because he’s sounding like he’s their leader and Trini takes orders from no one. Jason leaves through the reflecting pool and she is quick to follow. 

Later that night, she lays in her bed with the coin in her hand and wonders if everything that Zordon said was true. Was she really a Power Ranger? And was the threat that this Rita woman poses even real? 

/

Just when Trini thought that her life couldn't get more ridiculous, she is proven wrong for like the thirty thousandth time. She stumbles upon three idiots and the literal embodiment of an angel after they caused an explosion at the mine. Then all of a sudden they find strange coins, a ship underground, a talking robot, and a pixelated head on a wall who says that they are Power Rangers. The Power Rangers sounded like a fantasy story that a parent would tell their child before they went to sleep. Five warriors tasked with protecting the Earth from the evil witch Rita, sounds like the makings of a bestseller. You would think that it was fake but it was real. But somehow Trini is now one of these five warriors who must protect the Zeo Crystal or at least that's what the floating head in the 65 million year old ship buried deep underground says.   
  
As she sits at her spot on the mountain, she tries to make sense of everything that's happened. But the more she thinks about it the more questions she has. It doesn't make sense that these coins would be hidden for 65 millions years and not one person in that entire time period found them. But by some stroke of luck (she would say that it's more of a curse) herself and the others just happened to find them? It literally makes no sense to her. She knows she needs answers but the thought of going back down to the ship makes her queasy. She doesn't want to go back just because Jason Scott said so, she's gonna go because she says so. Her thoughts begin to consume her so she doesn't hear the footsteps approaching or the voice calling her name. It's not until the person stands beside her that Trini even realizes that she's not alone anymore.  
  
"I was hoping that I would find you here"  
  
She jumps slightly and starts to throw a punch but stops when she sees that the person is Kimberly.  
  
"Woah there Rocky! I'm sorry I startled you," Kim says with her hands up in the air.  
  
"You didn't startle me. You just caught me off guard," Trini responds even though she knows it's a lie. (Judging by the look on Kim's face, she knows it's a lie as well)  
  
"Either way, I'm sorry for just coming up on you like that"  
  
"It's okay I guess. What are you doing here though?"  
  
"Looking for you actually. I was already here and decided to look for you."  
  
"You expect me to believe that you just happened to be on the mountain and just managed to find me?"  
  
Trini watches as Kimberly ducks her head in embarrassment. (The fact that the sight makes her heart skip a beat confuses her to no end)  
  
"Okay I asked Billy if he knew where you would be and he told me that he sees you walking up  

the mountain sometimes so I decided to follow the trail. Which led me here."   
  
She wants to curse Billy for giving her up but she can't because she knows he meant well. She also figures that it's better that it was him than Zack.    
  
"Um okay? But that still doesn't tell me why you were so adamant about finding me."   
  
Kimberly brings one hand to rub at the back of her neck and looks down at the ground suddenly entranced with the rock by her boot. (Trini swears that she sees a blush creep up her face and the fact she finds it adorable really grates at her nerves)Trini cocks her head to the side because seeing Kim look almost bashful throws her for a loop.   
  
"I wanted to come find you, okay? You were really upset at me and I wanted to talk to you. To make things right."   
  
"And exactly what are you trying to make right?"   
  
"I mean, um. I--"   
  
"Words, Kimberly, I know that you know them"   
  
At that comment, she sees Kim groan in frustration and she has to fight the smirk because it thrills her to know that she can frustrate Kim like that. (She doesn't know why it thrills her but it does so much)   
  
"Listen, I didn't mean to offend you by not knowing how long you've been at Angel Grove."   
  
"But you do know"   
  
"What?"

"You do know how long I've been at Angel Grove. We both know that you do. So why act like you didn't? To make yourself look better to the boys? Hate to break it to you Kimberly but I really doubt any of them actually give a fuck that you know who I am."   
  
"That's not why I did it."   
  
"Please enlighten me as to why you suddenly forgot about everything? Does the coin have some magical power of amnesia that I don't know about? Because if it does let me know so I can use it myself."  
  
"No it doesn't. I don't know why--"  
  
"Do me a favor and do not insult me by lying to me. Say what it is you want to say or I'm leaving."  
  
Trini observes how Kimberly's body goes rigid at her words. She sees the gears turning in her mind. She waits and waits for Kimberly to say something but she doesn't. Trini rubs her face furiously in an effort to contain her anger.  
  
"I've had enough of this. You don't think I'm worth knowing the truth so I don't think you're worth me staying here to listen. Goodbye Kimberly."  
  
She begins to walk away but stops dead in her tracks when Kimberly speaks again.  
  
"I did it because I'm a coward."  
  
"What did you just say?" Trini asks as she turns around to look at Kim again.  
  
"I'm a coward, okay? I'm the coward who thought that lying about the fact I knew you've been at Angel Grove for over a year. I'm the coward who stood by and watched as two people who I thought were my friends harassed you for literally no reason."  
  
To say that Trini was stunned by the words Kimberly just said would be an understatement.  
  
"Why did you do it?"  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Let them say what they did. Why didn't you ever say stop?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
Trini lets out a humorless chuckle.  
  
"No you do know. You just don't want to admit it."  
  
"Trini, I--"  


She brings up a hand to stop Kimberly.    
  
"No Kimberly. I don't want to hear it. Great you admitted that you're a coward but until you can admit to yourself why you never stopped them or why you just stood there, then I really don't want to hear anymore. I'm not going to keep standing here and wasting my time if you're not going to even tell me the truth."   
  
(Trini knows that the two of them barely know each other. She knows that being upset over the fact that Kim won't tell her the truth is pathetic because why would she? They only know each other's names and that's it. They're not friends, not by a long shot.)   
  
She takes one last look at Kimberly just to see if she'll say something. Say anything at all to keep her there and talking. But she doesn't. Kimberly just stands there looking past Trini's face. Trini nods her head and turns to leave. She keeps walking and as she does she feels tears forming. She blinks a few times to make them go away because she will not cry over Kimberly Hart. She ignores how her chest feels painfully tight and how the tears keep forming.   
  
(Kimberly doesn't follow her and all she wonders is why does that hurt so much?)

/

She ends up back at the quarry at exactly 4pm. Jason is standing at the top of the cliff right where he said he would be. They make there way down to the ship where they learn the rules about being a Ranger. Trini tries her best to listen, she really does, but she really hates rules. Zordon has them start training and it's a shitshow to say the least. They get their asses handed to them every single time by these stupid holographic putties. (It pisses Trini off that she gets bested by a hologram of a rock. How embarrassing is that?)  
  
Day after day it's the same thing. School, training, go home clean up, homework, repeat. Every single day they trained then tried to morph but as all the times before they failed royally. Zack was being a pain in the ass so he and Jason always were fighting in some way. Billy tries to get them to stop (bless his heart) but he's unsuccessful every time. Kimberly and her just stand off to the side wondering what the fuck is wrong with them. 11 days is not enough time for five strangers to suddenly become a team to fight off an evil former Power Ranger.   
  
It isn't until the 4th day of training and a week before "the end of the world" that Trini feels a shift between Kim and her. They're training in the Pit as usual when Kim lands a hit on Trini that sends her flying into the rock wall, splitting her lip and causing a gash above her eye to form. Trini lands hard on her back and Kim is by her side in a second.   
  
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry Trini! I didn't mean to hit you that hard"  
  
Trini groans as she sits up. She brings a hand up to her eye and when she pulls it back it's stained red.  
  
"You got me good, Hart"  
  
"Trini I'm so sorry!"  
  
Trini smirks at Kim as she begins to stand up. A little wobbly but she manages to get her balance.  
  
"It's fine Kim. Just don't expect to land a hit like that again."  
  
She watches as Kim's eyebrow raises and a smirk settles on her face. Fuck that's hot is all Trini thinks. (She notices that her heart begins to race when she sees the smirk. God she's so gay for that smirk)  
  
"Oh really? Put your money where your mouth is then"  
  
"Bite me Hart"  
  
"Is that a request?"  
  
In the second it takes for Trini to fully grasp what Kim just said, Kim takes advantage. Trini doesn't even see the leg sweep at her feet, she only realizes it happened when she's on her back for the second time in five minutes. Kimberly also decides to add insult to injury by placing her leg on her chest as she smirks down at Trini. Trini sees the muscles in Kim's leg flex as it applies a small amount of pressure to keep her on the floor. Kim leans forward with that infuriating smirk on her face, hair framing her face as she stares down at Trini.  
  
"I win"  
  
She looks so fucking smug that it both angers and causes for Trini's heart to beat painfully against her chest (she would never admit the second one even under physical torture).  
  
"You wish"  
  


With that Trini reaches up to grab at Kim's leg. She sits up slightly and flips Kim over so she's now on top. Trini places her fist on Kim's chest and smiles mischievously at her.   
  
"Who's the winner now?"   
  
Trini can feel every single breath Kim takes. She swears she catches Kim looking at her lips for a brief moment. But instead Kim stares up at her and smiles brightly.    
  
"Okay you win. But um could you get off? I'm kind of finding it hard to breathe"   
  
That hits Trini like a bucket of cold water. She rushes off of Kimberly and extends a hand down to help her up. Kim grabs it and stands up but she's laughing?   
  
"What's so funny?"   
  
"Holy shit you should've seen your face!"   
  
"Are you making fun of me?"   
  
Kimberly places her hand over her heart and a look of fake offense crosses her face.   
  
"Why I would never!"   
  
(She wants to play this game? Okay they'll play. Trini loves games)   
  
"Whatever, I'm leaving."   
  
Trini walks over to the front of the Pit to get her stuff. Kimberly follows after her frantically apologizing.   
  
"Trini I was playing! Please don't be mad at me. I'm sorry."   


She's quiet as she keeps gathering her stuff. Her back to Kimberly so she can't see the smirk on her face. Kim touches her shoulder to turn her so they're facing each other.   
  
"Please don't be mad at me. I didn't mean to make fun of you."   
  
Kim has this horribly pitiful look on her face. Trini almost feels bad for playing with her too so she lets her smirk crack just slightly.   


  
"Wait! You weren't mad were you?"   
  
She can't contain the laughter that comes out. Kimberly pouts when she realizes that she was being played with.   
  
"Hey! That was mean! I really thought you were upset"   
  
"Oh that was priceless. You should've seen your face!" Trini manages in between laughter.   
  
"For being so mean, you have to buy me a donut from Krispy Kreme"   
  
Trini manages to compose herself enough to answer back "oh really?"   
  
Kim nods with a smile on her face as she says "Yup! I don't make the rules Trini"   
  
"Maybe I will buy you a donut or maybe I won't. It all depends on how badly you want it."   
  
The smirk that spreads across Kimberly's face is just purely sinful.    
  
"Oh I want it bad and only you can give it to me"   
  
As the words leave her mouth Kim grabs her stuff and makes her way out of the Pit. Trini stands there gaping because what the fuck just happened? She grabs her stuff quickly and follows after Kim intent on getting her back for catching her off guard again.   
  
(They were so caught up in each other that they forgot the boys were still there. Zack is the first to say what he knows Jason is thinking "what the fuck just happened?")

/

After that day in the Pit, Trini felt things changing between her and Kim. She couldn’t really pinpoint when they started to figure out how to act around each other. Maybe it was the coins or the fact that Kim managed to almost beat Trini in the Pit that made Trini start to respect her. Whatever it was, she wasn’t sure how to deal with it. It was a foreign feeling for her to say that she was actually starting to feel like her and Kim were friends. They started spending more and more time together and she found herself not hating being around Kim. Apparently, the fact that they were spending more and more time together was not lost on the rest of the school. Amanda, the literal embodiment of everything Trini hates in a person, was not too pleased by the new friend Kim made and she made sure to let Trini know that.

It went a little something like this.

Trini was walking to her locker at the end of the day so she could meet Kim before training. She had just opened it up when Amanda decided to slam it shut. She clenched her jaw as she turned to face her.

“Well look what we have here. Angel Grove’s resident nobody,” Amanda sneers out.

“Always a pleasure to see you Amanda,” Trini bites out. 

“Imagine my surprise when I found out that Kimberly Hart is hanging around with the likes of you and Billy Cranston”   


Trini has to physically restrain herself from punching Amanda square in the face when she hears Billy’s name come out of her mouth. She doesn’t care what is said about her but the minute someone talks about Billy, she is ready to square up. All she hears is Zordon’s voice in her head repeatedly saying “you must not use your power for personal gain.” She wonders for a moment if punching her would be worth it.

“You know Amanda, you try too hard to be the resident bitch of Angel Grove. It’s actually pathetic, to be honest.”

She smirks internally when she sees Amanda flush red with anger when she says that. It gives her such joy to piss her off. 

“You should really watch what you say to me, DeeDee. It would do you good to remember that”

“Is that your version of a threat? Because if so, you need to work on it a little more,” she says rather unimpressed.

Amanda gets closer to Trini and makes a face that looks more like she constipated than the scary face Trini is sure she wanted to show.

“You think that Kim is your friend? She’s nothing like you are and you should really think about what you’re doing because it won’t end well for her.”

Trini crosses her arms over her chest and gets in Amanda’s face.

“You can threaten me all you want but threaten Kim again and we will have a very big problem.”

She manages to push Amanda out of the way so she can open her locker again. Grabbing her jacket and book bag, she begins to make her way down the hall when she hears Amanda call out after her.

“You’re going to regret that!”

Trini rolls her eyes and throws up a middle finger as she makes her way out of the school.

(She decides against telling Kim about her encounter with Amanda.)

/

Maybe she should’ve told Kim.

Kim was supposed to meet her by her locker so they could walk to class together but she hadn’t showed up so Trini went looking for her. She found Kim standing in front of her locker with a look of pure sorrow on her face. Trini watched intently as Kim picked her head up and opened the locker. 

But once she saw what was on it, she kind of wished she hadn’t seen it. 

Something inside of her snapped and she all she saw was red. “Die Ugly Bitch” “No one will care”  “Nice Hair ” and that emoticon that she was sure was supposed to be dead were all that floated through her mind. She walked determinedly over to where Kim was. Her hand had a mind of its own when it grabbed the door of the locker and pulled it clear off its hinges. Trini looked inside of the locker for a second and tried to focus her breathing before she turned to look at Kim. When she did turn to look at Kim, her anger subsided but only for a moment. Kim was staring at her with a look of pure shock. (She wasn’t going to comment on the way Kim’s eyes darkened)

She kept her face blank as she said “Take your stuff out”.

“What?” 

She smiled lightly as she turned her face to the locker for a second before looking at Kim again.

“Take it”

Kim stares her again for a moment before grabbing all of her stuff out of what was left of her locker. Once she has all of her stuff, Trini begins to walk down the hall with Kim matching her stride. Her hand clenches around the cold metal and she feels it dent even more in the death grip that Trini has on it. 

“You don’t need a locker,” she says as she stares forward.

They pass by a classroom in which Trini sees Amanda in. She seethes when she sees her and doesn’t even think about chucking the locker into it, not even caring if it hits Amanda or not. (She only hoped that it hit her) The locker crashes to the floor with a long bang.

Kim looks at her and they both take off running down the hall. Trini smiles as they run because she hears Kim’s soft laughter. They manage to make it all the way out of school and to Kim’s car when they both double over from laughter. Trini stops laughing when she sees Kim lean against her car, clutching at her stomach, and smiling brightly. “God she’s so beautiful” is all that she thinks of as she stares at Kim. (Not that she would ever admit that out loud) Kim stares at her again and cocks her head to the side. She stares so deeply at her that Trini just knows Kim is searching for something but she isn’t sure what it is just yet. Trini clears her throat and look away from her. She stares at the doors that they just ran through and she feels the burning anger from earlier begin to settle in her chest once again. Her jaw clenches tightly and her right hand balls into a fist as she furiously glares at where she knows Amanda is. 

Two things happen next and they both catch Trini off guard. 

The first being, she feels a soft hand touch the hand that is balled into a fist and open it.She refuses to look at Kim because she knows that if she does, she won’t be able to stop herself from probably doing something stupid. The second being, the same hand that was on her hand grabbing at her arm, turning around, and then having an armful of Kimberly Hart. She tries to fight it, she really does but the moment Kim wraps her arms around her neck, hers automatically wrap around her waist.  

(Trini is very much aware of the fact that this is one of the first hugs she’s gotten in a long time)

They stand there hugging for a few moments before Kim pulls away.

“Thank you Trini.”

“No need to thank me Kim.”

“I really do though. You ripped my locker off and I’m appreciative.”

“Why don’t you show me just how appreciative you are by buying me a donut?” 

Trini smirks as she says that. Half of her hoping that Kim would forget that she was the one that was supposed to buy the donuts because free donuts are always the best donuts. The other half pondering the different and kind of violent ways that she can get back at Amanda for causing Kim pain. They are barely inside of Kim’s car when Kim decides to speak again.

“Don’t think I forgot that you are supposed to buy the donuts.”

Fuck, she remembered.

/

Donuts were created by the Gods and given to humans as gift.  At least that’s what Trini thought. 

Krispy Kreme had donuts. Donuts were gifts. So that made Krispy Kreme important to Trini. Apparently it was also important to other people in Angel Grove too because the shop was pretty packed by the time Kim and her got there. Somehow, they managed to find a table where they could sit at. There was a large chocolate donut in the center of the table that both her and Kim decided to share. They sit in relative silence, enjoying the donut, until Kim speaks up.

“Trini, can I ask you something?”

“Of course”

“Why did you help me with my locker?”

That’s the question that she had been asking herself since she ripped the locker off its hinges. She didn’t know how to answer that. Does she admit that seeing the graffiti telling Kim to kill herself caused her physical pain? Does she admit that she feels responsible for it because Amanda warned her that something would happen to Kim? Does she admit that the words reminded her of the ones that graced her locker when she first started at Angel Grove? She wasn’t sure how to answer that question without revealing too much about her feelings. Her head was flooded with thoughts that she couldn’t seem to get a hold of.

“Uh--I don’t really know”

(Yes good job for going with a lie, you dumbass. Real smart)

She can see that Kim doesn’t really believe her. She half wishes that Kim would just drop it so they can go back to enjoying the donut. But she should’ve known better than to think that because when Kim is determined, she doesn’t back down.  

“I’m not going to force you to tell me. I was just curious is all.”

An awkward silence falls between them as Kim looks down at her coffee. Seemingly interested in stirring the absolute crap out of it. Trini stares at Kim and watches the crease above her eyebrows get deeper the more she thinks. She couldn’t see Kim’s eyes but she knows that if she could, she would see the same sadness in them that she saw when Kim realized how mad she was when she “forgot” that they had Biology together. Unlike then, the sadness that she knows Kim is feeling doesn’t make her happy it makes her ache. She feels the gut wrenching feeling of regret fill her chest and it’s suddenly very hard for her to breathe. She doesn’t really think about the words that come out of her mouth because all that she can think about is fixing the awkwardness between them.

“I did it because I felt guilty.”

Kim’s head shoots up so fast that it’s almost painful to watch.

“Why would you be guilty?”

Trini brings a hand up and starts to fiddle with the beanie that is on her head. She’s nervous and she doesn’t really know why.

“Because yesterday before I met up with you to go training, Amanda came up to me.”

 Anger flashes in Kim’s eyes and it would’ve scared her if she didn’t know exact reason why Kim was angry.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me? Did she hurt you?”

“Breathe Kim. And no she didn’t hurt me. She was just interested in knowing how we became friends. She wasn’t too happy about it to be honest.”

“Oh."

“Don’t really get why she cared though since you two aren’t friends anymore. She said some things to me and go upset when I didn’t react the way she wanted. Then to I guess make me remember who she is she threatened you. I told her that she and I would have an issue if she threatened you again. I guess she was beginning to make good on her threat because of your locker. So yeah, I feel guilty.”

Kim reaches forward and sets her hand atop of hers. Trini stares down at their hands before looking up at Kim again.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Trini. I do wish you had told me though so I could’ve dealt with Amanda instead of you.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve been dealing with Amanda and her fucked up shit since I got here.”

That sadness in Kim’s eyes comes back and it makes Trini want to fling herself off of the cliff. She really wishes that she had a filter so she could stop herself from saying things like that.

“Kim, I’m so--” 

“No, I deserved that. I remember what Amanda did to you. I regret it every day.”

“Regret what?”

“Not doing something to stop it earlier. I knew what she said but never did anything about it. I wish I could tell you why I let her say those things but I have no idea why. Maybe, I was too much of a coward to stand up to her. Maybe, I was afraid that if I did she’d turn on me. Whatever my reasoning was, it was shitty and I am so sorry.”

To say that she was stunned by Kim’s words would be the understatement of the year. Trini had no idea that Kim felt that badly over what happened.  _ “Is this what she was trying to apologize for a few days ago,” _ is all Trini can think of. 

“It’s water under the bridge now, Kim. You’re making up for what happened a few months ago.”

“Have I really?”

Trini smiles at Kim and it’s one of the smiles that she rarely ever shows to anyone.

“I wouldn’t be sitting here in Krispy Kreme with you if you hadn’t.”

Kim lets out a small smile of her own and looks around at the people surrounding them in the shop. Trini takes that opportunity to look down at the donut in between them and realizes that there is a small piece left. Smirking to herself she decides to have some fun with Kim. She brings her fork up and makes sure that when she stabs the piece, it hits the table. Kim turns to look at her and she looks confused for a brief moment but the moment Trini moves the piece away from her she realizes what is happening. They begin to clash over the last piece of donut that they both really want. Any other normal person wouldn’t have gone as hard as they did but normal people were not Power Rangers. They tested each other by keeping the donut away from the other and besting the other when they got it back.

Trini leaned forward to try and bite the donut but Kim moved it away from her. Kim lifts her finger in the no motion and says “NO”. The smile on Kim’s face makes this little game they are playing worth it and Trini knows deep down who’s already won. The fork with the donut somehow ended up in the air. Both Kim and her attempt to reach for it. It falls in slow motion and Trini watches as Kim sits back still smiling. She subtly moves her hand back so the fork falls into Kim’s hand. By the proud look on Kim’s face as she stuffs the donut into her mouth, Trini knows that she made the right choice. She sits back and smiles at Kimberly who smiles back at her. They look around to see if anybody in the store saw their game of agility and strength. Thankfully, nobody saw them because they were all preoccupied with their phones.

As they turn to look back at each other, Trini feels a strange sensation on her arm. She looks down at her arm and that’s when she sees it. The yellow armor settles from her elbow down to her hand. She gasps softly and shoves her arm under the table. As she does that, she hears Kim gasp as well. She looks up and catches the unmistakeable sight of pink armor on Kim’s arm. She looks at Kim and sees shock on her face which she is sure is evident on her face as well. They look around again to see if anyone noticed the fact that the started to morph but not a single soul was looking at them. Trini begins to lift her arm from under the table and is surprised to see that the armor is gone. Kim does the same as she settles her arm on the table again and it’s just as bare as Trini’s.

Kim mouths “What the hell?” at her.

Trini wanted to answer her, she really did but she had no idea what the hell just happened. They had been trying for the past six days to morph but it wasn’t working no matter what they tried. But then, Kim and her just randomly start to morph in Krispy Kreme?

(They started to morph in Krispy Kreme and god Trini wishes that they could do it again)

/

They didn’t morph again so they decided to not tell the boys.

 

Trini tried, they all did but it wasn’t working. She didn’t know how Kim and her had managed to morph at Krispy Kreme. Her frustrations were reaching a boiling point and it was showing. She was going harder in training. Taking down putties with more strength than needed. Hitting harder during sparring sessions with the others. It definitely wasn’t helping hearing how disappointed Zordon was with them. He preached about how the Power Rangers were a legion of warriors but most importantly they were a team.

 

They weren’t that team. Clearly. She didn’t think that they ever would be that team.

 

How could they be if they couldn’t even morph? There was no way that they could keep Angel Grove and the world safe, if they couldn’t even do the one thing that would make them Power Rangers. Alpha was even disappointed in them. He did better at hiding his disappointment but Trini could hear the underlying tones in his voice. She was enough of a disappointment at home and was not about to be seen as more of a disappointment to a disembodied head or a small talking robot.

 

Problem was, the disappointment everyone had in her kept following her around. At home, her mother would always tell her how she didn’t understand how Trini ended up the way that she did. She could hear her parents fighting about how they didn’t know what to do with her anymore. Hearing them yell was draining and after everything that had been happening in the Pit, it was the last thing Trini wanted to deal with.

 

But, as always, the universe had other plans. This time the smack in the face came in the form of her mother storming into her room as Trini was getting her stuff to go to training, yelling about how she was being too secretive as to where she was going.

 

“Trinidad Gomez! Where are you going?”

 

She rolls her eyes at the mention of her full name.

 

“I’m going out with friends.”

 

“Friends? You have friends?”

 

“Yes mother. I have friends.”

 

“Why have I not met these friends?”

 

“Because I don’t have to bring them to the house to show that I have friends.”

 

If looks could kill then Trini would very much likely have been dead. The look that crossed her mother’s face was one that would’ve scared her if she was a kid but she was older now and her mother was the last person who she was scared of.

 

“That’s it! I’ve had it with how secretive you’ve been. You live under my roof and when I ask you where you are going, you are to answer me. Do you understand me?”

 

Her mother’s yelling caused her father and brothers to come see what was going on. Trini could see her brother’s standing at the doorway of their room and could see how the fear they felt in their eyes. It tore her heart apart to see them so scared of what’s been going on at home. She wished more than anything that she could wrap them up in her arms and make every bad thing go away. They deserved a childhood free of screaming and family that hates each other. Her gaze is torn away from her brother’s when she sees her mother’s hands clapping in front of her face. 

 

“See? This is what I mean. You don’t listen! You were raised better than this. Your father and I taught you to respect us. But you have been doing nothing but disrespecting us since we moved here.”   
  


“And exactly how have I been doing that?”

 

After the words come out of her mouth is when her father decides he wants to talk.

 

“Don’t speak to your mother like that Trinidad.”   
  


Trini stares at him and wonders where the man she used to look up to went. His brown eyes no longer shine in the way they used to and it makes her wonder when they got so cold. She wonders that about both her parents. 

“You think that we are the problem Trinidad but everything that has happened is your fault! You do not tell us anything that you are doing. We hear it from everyone else in town. Do you know how embarrassing it is to hear that our daughter is hanging around with the quarterback who was arrested or the cheerleader who now isn’t a cheerleader? Or how embarrassing it is to find out that you also hang out with a criminal and a boy who blows things up? You say that those people are your friends but they are trouble. You do not care about this family at all. Your brothers should not have to watch their sister set a bad example for them with who you choose to associate with.”

At least now she knows what her parents think of her. Hearing that they think that she is a bad example for her brothers cuts her deep. It rips her apart the same way it did when Mateo and Diego first told her that their parents had said that. Trini lets her mother’s words sink in and uses it as fuel for the burning rage that is inside of her. How dare her mother criticize her for who she hangs out with? She’s not even sure if she would call Jason, Kimberly, Zack, or Billy her friends because she’s never actually had friends. They hang out often and have something tying them together which means they are friends, right? But they were the closest thing that they had to friends and she was not going to stand and listen to her mother talk shit about them. She straightens her back, clenches her jaw tight, steels her gaze, and claps her hands together.

“Bravo mother. You finally told me what you actually think of me. So since you feel that way, I’m going to leave now.”

The clapping caught both of her parents off guard and she watches as the confusion passes through both of their faces. She grabs her duffel bag and begins to make her way out of her house. As she passes by her parents, her mother stares straight ahead and her father stares at her. Trini doesn’t look at either of them and just keeps walking. She stops in front of her brothers and gathers them in her arms to hug them tightly. She gives them both a kiss on the head and whispers “I’m sorry.”

Once she’s out of the house, she feels the stinging sensation in her chest come back. It settles inside of her and spreads the deep seeded hatred she feels deep in her body. The air becomes stifling and it becomes harder for her to breathe. She closes her eyes and wills the thoughts in her head to go away. She manages to get herself contained enough to run to the quarry to meet with the others.

The entire time, she chooses to not think about how empty she feels the closer she gets to what should feel like home.

/

Training didn’t go as planned. Not one bit.

Alpha decided that they weren’t inspired and that was why they couldn’t morph. He told them that he had a surprise for them and that they should follow him. Alpha was talking about how they weren’t doing as well as they needed to be considering Rita could attack at any moment. Jason wasn’t too happy at hearing that comment.

“We’ve been working our asses off. Feel free to throw us a bone at any time.”

Alpha turns around to look at him and sighs.

“Yes which is why I wanted to show you this.”

He points up and that’s when they see them.

Standing tall and mighty before them were: Tyrannosaurus, Mastodon, Triceratops, Pterodactyl, and Saber-tooth Tiger. Seeing the zords caused a wave of awe course through Trini. She felt like she was a small child walking into a toy store for the first time. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the Saber-tooth Tiger zord, she watched as it moved slightly and felt a force pulling her towards it. She swore she could feel the growl of her zord flow through her body and it made her feel powerful. Trini didn’t even need to look at the others to know that they were looking at their zords with the same awe that she feels. But the moment was crushed by Alpha when he again decided to remind them that they weren’t ready for the zords yet. Trini sighed as she turned to follow the others back to the Pit to once again.

They probably should’ve noticed that not all of them were walking back. It wasn’t until Alpha asked where Zack was that she realized he never followed them.  _ “Please don’t be doing what I think you are Zack”  _ she thinks silently. Her fears are confirmed when she feels a rumbling throughout the cave and a loud crashing noise when the Mastodon Zord comes barreling through the rock. She tries to run away but the force of the Mastodon crashing through the rock knocks her off her feet and sends her flying.

She lands roughly and feels the air leave her lungs. Sitting up gingerly, she coughs to get rid of the dust in her lungs, and feels blood falling down her face. Vaguely she hears Kimberly’s voice call out to her “Are you okay?” But she doesn’t answer instead she focuses her attention on the resident dumbass Zack Taylor. Jason does too because the next thing she knows him and Zack are punching each other.

Billy tries to stop them. And then the noise just stops. 

In front of her stands Billy fully morphed in his blue armor. It’s an amazing sight and one that she wishes stayed longer but again Zack has to ruin the moment.

Zordon’s voice booms throughout the Pit and he tells them all to leave. Kimberly yells out that Billy morphed and Zordon asks him to do it again, any of them to morph. Again, they don’t morph because they don’t know how to. She hears his disappointed voice again and it reminds her of her parents. The joyous feeling of seeing one of them fully morphed is replaced by annoyance and a mind-numbing feeling of sadness. 

Again they’re reminded that they’re not the Power Rangers and may never be.

/

Zack offers for them to join him at the bonfire he made. Trini accepts because she really doesn’t want to be home. She sits on the far side of the fire right beside Billy and stares as the flames rise. Slowly she sips on the beer that Zack had given her. The flames flicker and crack in front of her. Part of her wishing that they would swallow her whole so she wouldn’t have to deal with how fucked up her life has gotten. She looks up and catches a glimpse of Kimberly sitting across from her. The flames cast a light across Kimberly’s face that make her look like an angel. A fiery angel with enough sass to make even the Devil cry. Kimberly catches Trini staring and gives her the smile that she feels Kim reserves only for her. The smile that looks like she’s smaller than she actually is. The smile that Trini knows comes accompanied with a blush. The smile that lights a fire inside Trini that is brighter and more intense than the one in between her and Kim. The smile that makes her think that maybe, just maybe, Kimberly may actually be what she has been searching for her whole life. 

The moment is interrupted when Jason joins them. He’s upset about something but doesn’t say why. He asks Billy how he morphed but Billy has no idea. Jason wonders what they all think about when they’re trying to morph. The rest of them all agree that Zordon’s voice is what they hear but Trini just sits back and listens. She doesn’t tell them how all she thinks of when she tries to morph is how she wants to prove everyone wrong. She doesn’t say how the disappointment in Zordon’s voice rings through her mind each time they stand on the morphing grid. Nor does she talk about how she wonders why the coin that sits in her pocket chose her of all people. She’s not strong. She’s not a mighty warrior. She’s not worthy or deserving of the coin.

Zack thinks that maybe the reason why they can’t morph is because they don’t know each other. He thinks that they should reveal who they are but the thought of that makes her want to vomit. Trini doesn’t know who she is and she doesn’t want to admit that to four people that she barely even knows.

They do it anyway.

Zack tells them how his mom is sick and that’s why he doesn’t attend school much. He shares how his biggest fear is losing her and that when she goes, he has no one else. He’s alone except for them and he thinks that being with them is good for him. Trini hates how his voice cracks when he talks about his mom dying. She hates how she can see the unshed tears sparkling in his eyes. She hates how her heart aches because she knows that he doesn’t want them to feel sad for him.  

Billy starts with a joke about how he loves country music and the mood lightens a bit. But it becomes somber again when he talks about how he doesn’t miss his dad as much. He says that coming to the mines was something that he enjoyed with his dad but coming with them is just as good. She admires how strong Billy is and how he always seems to have a positive outlook even when life seems bleak.

Kimberly refuses to talk about herself. Trini sees the fear in Kimberly’s eyes at the thought of even talking about who she is. She watches as Kimberly’s body becomes rigid and stiffens further when they make eye contact over the fire. Trini has no idea why she’s so scared but she has a feeling it has something to do with Amanda and Harper. She wishes that Kimberly wasn’t so scared and that she trusted at least her with the information she’s holding private. But she also can’t blame her because they barely know each other so why would she tell them anything. 

Jason is the same story. Zack asks him who he is and Jason says “everyone knows who he is”. It becomes clear to Trini that Jason probably suffered with the weight of being Angel Grove’s golden boy. She may have only been in town for a year but she heard about him. Everyone in town treated him like a social pariah after he pulled prank that went wrong and got caught. She feels bad for him even though she knows that he just wants to be seen as Jason Scott.

Then the attention is on her and it makes her want to recede into herself. The way they all look at her wanting to know who she is and why she’s in Angel Grove makes her stomach clench. 

Zack asks her “What about you, Crazy Girl?”

She smirks at him and says “I could tell you anything and you would have to believe me.”

He doesn’t look like he believes her and before she can even stop herself, the words start flowing out.

“Okay, um. I’m the new girl. Always.”

Kimberly is staring at her intently and if Trini didn’t know any better, she would think that Kim was looking right through her. Her words get caught in her throat for a moment and she coughs to set them free. 

“Three schools in three years. What’s crazy is I like it that way, you know, it’s just easier. Nobody ever has to get to know me and my parents don’t have to worry about my relationships.”

She brings the bottle up to her lips and takes a long sip of her beer. It’s really shitty beer but it’s alcohol which is what Trini needs to keep herself from crying. She already revealed way more than what she wanted to. Kimberly is giving her that sad look again and this time is makes Trini want to run. Every part of her is screaming at her to run away. To get far away from the fire and the others. To run and protect herself from the pain. As she takes another sip of her beer, the voices in her head begin again. 

_ “They don’t care” “They’re not your friends” “You mean nothing to them” _

The need to vomit is intensified and Trini feels the hair on her skin stand up. Almost as if her body is preparing herself for an attack. She swallows down her thoughts and stares straight ahead at the flames in front of her. She wishes for a second time that night that they would engulf her so she could get away from this mess. Zack’s voice breaks her from her thoughts.

“Boyfriend troubles?” he asks tentatively.

“Yeah. Boyfriend troubles.” she shoots back sarcastically.

She takes a look at him and sees the gears turning in his head.

“Girlfriend troubles?”

Continuing to stare forward, Trini misses the looks that cross the faces of the others. 

“My family is so normal. Too normal. They believe in labels. They’d like for me to, uh, dress differently. Talk more.”

(She doesn’t even mean for the last part to come out as bitterly as it did but it’s the truth.) 

“Have the kind of friends they want me to have. It’s just, I don’t know how to tell them what’s really going on with me.”

Her throat feels like it’s closing up and her eyes sting because of the tears that she refuses to let out. She looks around the fire at the people who for the past week she’s been around constantly. She expects for all of them to get up and walk away but they don’t. Inhaling sharply, she leans forward to set her beer down on the table in front of her.

"And I’ve never said any of this out loud.”

Billy, sweet Billy, the first person to show her any sort of kindness when she got to Angel Grove, speaks up.

“Well it’s cool. You’re with us now.”

He raises his fist and holds it out to her. She knows that he expects for her to bump fists with him but she doesn’t. His words replay in her head because is she really with them? She wants so badly to believe him but she can’t.

“Am I?”

He slowly lowers his fist. 

“What does that mean when this is all over?”

Without even meaning to, her eyes fall on Kimberly as she asks the question that’s been on her mind for the past few days.

“Are we Power Rangers or are we friends?”

(The tears in Kimberly’s eyes are the last thing that she thinks about that night)

/

In the seventeen years of life she had lived, Trini could count the amount of friends she had on one hand. On that one hand only one finger would be taken for Mr. Bubbles. The fish that died when she was five was the only friend that she ever remembered having. She wasn’t good at making friends and that was very much evident when she decided that being friends with Blair was a good idea. Her inability to make friends was one of the only things that she was sure of.  

Which is why when Kimberly texted her a little while after the bonfire, she was confused. She was almost one hundred percent certain that none of them would want to talk to her after what she said. 

**Kimberly Hart** 11:00 pm

Are you awake?

Trini really wanted to leave her on read but she figured that something was wrong. 

**Trini Gomez** 10:01 pm

Yes. Are you okay?

**Kimberly Hart** 10:01 pm

Not really. Can you come over?

Trini frowned at her phone. Why would Kim want her to come over to her house?

**Trini Gomez** 10:02 pm

I’ll be there in 10

She throws on a random shirt and jacket. With the powers that being a ranger gave her, she was able to get to Kim’s house in less than ten minutes. She found Kim standing on her porch. She seems okay, so what could have made her text Trini?

“Is everything okay?”

“I think I’m the reason we can’t morph” Kim suddenly says. 

She huffs out in frustration and finally turns around to look at Trini.

“I haven’t really been honest. Okay. I punched Ty Fleming in the face because he told everyone that I was the meanest person that he’d ever met. And he was right.”

Trini stays quiet for a moment before she says  “That can’t be true.”

Kimberly smiles bitterly before pulling out her phone and searching for something. She turns her phone in Trini’s direction and there staring at her is a nude photo of Amanda. She quickly turns her head away.

“Whoa. You took that picture?”

“No. Amanda Clark took that picture. Of herself. But she shared it with me. Privately. She trusted me." 

Trini knows that she probably shouldn’t ask the question that she wants to ask. So she stays quiet and waits for Kimberly to resume talking.

“And I sent that pic to Ty with a text that said ‘Is this the girl that you wanna to bring home to your mom?”

“I’m assuming Ty sent that picture to someone and that’s how it got around to everyone in the school.”

“Yeah, he did.”

“Oh”

 “I didn’t realize how mean it was until I saw her face. I had to sit in Mr. Detmer’s office with Amanda’s father and watch as they showed him that picture of his daughter.”

Her voice trails off and Trini can see that she is barely stopping herself from crying. 

“In his eyes for the first time I could see who I’d become. You know, so I lied. I blamed everyone else. I wanted to die. The night we found the coins, Jason found me and he asked me if I could run away would I. I was ready to run away that night.”

The tears start to roll down Kim’s face and Trini doesn’t even realize that she had moved until her hand was reaching up to wipe away Kim’s tears. With the tips of her fingers, she wipes away every last tear that she can see. Kim’s eyes search hers and Trini can see the question in them. She doesn’t answer it because she knows that Kim expects her to be disappointed and disgusted that she did such a terrible thing. But the thing is, she’s not either of those things. Trini has no place to judge when she’s done some terrible things herself.

“What you’re going to do first is erase that photo." 

Kim stares at her in confusion and it makes Trini smile.

“I know that you weren’t expecting me to say that. But I’m not going to tell you what you already know. You don’t need me to say that what you did was shitty because what is that going to do? I am going to tell you to erase the photo”

She watches as Kim presses the delete button on the photo before making sure that no trace of it is left. Trini smiles again when Kim looks up at her.

“There you go. Does it feel better now that you got rid of that photo?”

“Yes, a little.”

“Good. Listen, you did a bad thing but you’re remorseful. You’ve accepted the shit has been thrown your way but that does not mean that you need to wallow in your hatred of what you did. Do not let your mistake define who you are Kim.”

“But who am I?”

“Only you can answer that Kim. You’re the only one who has control over your story. The chapter of your life that you spent with Amanda and that crew is now over. So write the next chapter the way you want it to be written.”

“I don’t get how you can sit here and be so kind to me after everything that’s happened. I don’t deserve any of it.”

Trini moves to stand by the railing and leans her arms onto it. She thinks about Kim’s question. In the beginning of the year, Trini had been so easily ready to put Kim in the same category as Amanda and Harper. She was basing her opinions on her off of things that Kim hadn’t even done herself.  She sighs as she answers “I’m kind because you’ve shown that you’re sorry. You don’t just say sorry, you always work towards being better. Yes, you didn’t admit that you had sent the picture to Ty but here you are telling me, of all people, what happened. You’ve done all you can do Kim, now you just have to stop beating yourself up about it.”

Kimberly is quiet as she takes in what Trini just said. She doesn’t say anything for the longest time and it kind of freaks Trini out that she may have said the wrong thing. Turning around to face Kim again, Trini is knocked off her feet. Metaphorically at least. The moon is shining down and half casting an angelic glow over Kimberly. Earlier, Trini has thought that flames of the fire had made Kim look like a fiery angel but right now? She was an angel. An angel who was a little rough around the edges but one that Trini knew that God would be proud of. It is then Trini realizes that the fiery angel was who Kim had tried to be before but the one in front of her is the angel that Kim actually is.

They both stand quietly leaning against the railing. Both enjoying the peace that the quiet brings. It isn’t until Kim leans against Trini that the quiet is broken. 

“Trini?”

“Hmm.”

“Just so you know, we are friends.”

 /

Trini never did anything normally. 

She decided that living outside the conventional norms of society was more her style. 

Which is why she was riding on top of the bus instead of inside of it in order to get back home after being Kimberly’s. The ride a top the bus allowed her some time to think about the events of the night. The feeling of emptiness was starting to slowly creep its way up her spine again and it hurt. She thought about how scared Kim looked when she was talking to her. She thought about how the others just listened to her talk at the campfire. She thought about how crazy her life has been even though she’s just seventeen. She thinks about the coin in her jacket pocket and how it’s changing her life. She’s still not sure if it’s for better or worse but she knows that her life isn’t the same anymore.

Her phone vibrates in her hand. She sees that Kim texted her.

**Kimberly Hart** 11:45pm

Thank you for tonight. Get home safely, okay?

Trini doesn’t answer her. Instead she focuses on making sure she gets off the bus at the right stop. She sees that the bus is nearing her house so she jumps into one of the trees right next to the bus. Swinging herself to the group, she lands with a soft thud. She walks the the last block to her house and once she reaches it, she decides to get in through her window. 

Safely inside of her room, she feels the tears that were threatening to come out earlier start to sting her eyes again. Except this time, she let them fall and she doesn’t even try to wipe them away. 

She cries in her room, alone.

Kimberly’s text still remains answered.

/

Sleep was precious to Trini. Ever since she found the power coin and started training with the others, it was something that she got not much of. When she heard her parents leaving with her brothers, she realized she would be able to sleep without dealing with them.  She hadn't even been asleep for fifteen minutes when she felt water dripping on her face. The stench of death filled the air and it made her freeze. That smell belonged to one person.

Rita. 

She gasps when she looks up and sees Rita floating over her. Rita’s hand grabs her cheek and Trini feels the scaly gold rings on her fingers slide caress her. She tries to move away she really does but she can’t move.

“Do you know who I am?”

Rita’s deriding her. Trini knows it. She tries to look away but Rita forcefully makes her look. 

“Yes” she answers, voice shaking audibly.

Rita keeps caressing her face. Her hands keep roaming, marking Trini’s skin in a way that makes her shake with fear. 

“I was once just like you. So pretty.”

A cold finger moves across Trini’s forehead and it takes everything in her to not cry out.

“Innocent” Rita again taunts.

Rita leans her face closer to Trini and rasps out menacingly “Are the Rangers on Zordon’s new team as young as you?" 

Trini grunts as she smashes her body into Rita’s and sends them flying into the ceiling. Rita’s demonic laughter fills the air.

“Delightful!”

Trini yelps out in pain as they fall back onto her bed.

“Have you morphed yet?” Rita asks with a maniacal grin on her face.

She launches them into the brick wall beside the bed. The sound of broken bricks falling to the ground is all Trini hears. She feels the bricks that didn’t fall to the ground digging into her back. She whimpers out in pain. Rita just laughs.

“Trick question. If you could morph, we’d be having a very different conversation.”

Her hands are on Trini’s face again. Almost as if she’s trying to mark her. To let everyone know who was causing Trini such pain. She tried to not show it in her face that she was in pain but Rita knew. Rita knew she was hurting her and she was enjoying it. The look in her eye was that of a woman gone completely and utterly mad. Rita’s hand begins to reach for Trini’s hair but Trini shakes it away.

Rita sniffs her and smirks.

“Mm, the Yellow Ranger.”

More demonic laughter fills the air and Trini just knows that Rita is mocking her. Mocking the fact that she can’t morph.

“Should I kill you? I killed the Yellow Ranger before.”

She moves her face towards Trini’s ear and yells “And I loved it!”

Never before in her life has Trini ever wanted something as desperately as she wants her armor. She wants the protection that it would give her. She wants the strength that it would give her to try and take on Rita. But no matter how hard she wished for it, it didn’t come. Rita smiles devilishly as she realizes what Trini is thinking.

“Oh, you want your armor? I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.” she taunts.

She watches helplessly as Rita’s blue eyes turn a shade of green that she’s never seen before. Green spikes begin to pop up and begin to encase Rita’s body. Rita lets go of Trini and holds her hands up. The green armor settles up to her neck and gold forms around Rita’s hands. She watches horrified that the armor of a Ranger would even look so grotesque. In the back of her mind Trini wonders how Rita ever became a Ranger in the first place. 

(Her next move was extremely stupid considering she had nothing to protect herself with but she couldn’t let Rita just throw her around)

 Trini grabbed Rita by the neck and launched her into the wall on the far side of her room. The force of the impact completely destroying the wall on the left side of the dresser. She squeezed Rita’s neck with as much force as she could muster up.

“No please! You’re hurting me. You’re so strong.”

One second was all it took for Trini to lose her focus. That one second was all Rita needed to gain the upper hand again. 

“I’m just kidding,” she says with a laugh.

Grabbing Trini by the neck again, Rita lifts and tosses her into the wall on the opposite side of the dresser. 

  
“You’ve got spunk little Yellow! I see myself in you. I was an outsider on Zordon’s team just like you. All I need to know is, where is the Zeo Crystal?”

The grip on Trini’s neck loosens but she’s still gasping for air.

“I...don’t...know,” she manages to get out. 

“Sadly, I believe you.”

The grip tightens again as Rita pushes Trini further into the wall.

“Tomorrow, I am going to destroy Angel Grove. But, in exchange for your life, you will find out where that crystal is and you will come to me.”

Once again, her hands touch Trini’s face. But this time with the armor on, the hands feel more like death. Her gold-tipped fingers scratch Trini’s neck. The skin breaks harshly and blood pours out of the wounds. Trini attempts to squirm out of the hold that she is in but finds herself even more trapped.

“We can have a little deal, DiDi, my friend." 

That smirk is the last thing Trini sees before she’s thrown into her shelf. It smashes into several pieces and all the debris falls on Trini. Her speakers lay in mangled pieces on her back. The wood that was once the shelf splinters her arms and shoulders. There’s blood flowing down her face, neck, and back. Everything hurts and Trini finds herself wishing that Rita would just kill her. She tries to lift herself up but the pain is too much. 

Rita stalks towards her and crouches down.

“I’ll be where the dead ships lie. See you soon Didi.”

Then she’s gone.

Trini lays there on her floor. She lets out a loud sob and crawls to grab her phone. She opens the Ranger group chat.

**Trini Gomez** 1:10 am

Meet me at the football field

/

Texting the others was stupid.   
  
She didn't even think about telling them that Rita had come to her house and attacked her but she realized maybe she should have. If she had thought about it, she probably would've gone to Zordon first and asked him what to do. Because she wasn't a Power Ranger and that was made clear to her when she couldn't even beat Rita.    
  
Instead she went to the others, a bunch of teenagers like herself, and they decided (rather stupidly) to go take on Rita. A decision they didn't thoroughly think through. They had strength but Rita was stronger.   
  
They weren't Power Rangers. They were just five scared teenagers who were chosen to be protectors of the Zeo Crystal.    
  
Rita reminded them of that as she proceeded to embarrass them in the fight and then tied them to the side of a boat. She mocked and taunted them for being so stupid. Like she asked Trini while she had her hand around her throat, she asked the rest where the Zeo Crystal was located.    
  
Jason swore none of them knew but then Rita was saying one of them did and Trini could feel her heart sink. She taunts them further in a sing-songy voice "Eenie, Meanie, Miny, Blue".   
  
(Not Billy, please not Billy)   
  
Billy reveals that the Zeo Crystal is buried at Krispy Kreme after Rita almost kills Zack. Trini could see the gears turning in her head and knows that they've failed.    
  
Rita has won.   
  
She then says that Zordon would think less of her if she didn't kill one of them.  Trini hoped that it would be her because she was the one who told the others that Rita attacked her. She's the reason why they're at the boatyard tied up like prey. But Rita doesn't aim her staff at her.   
  
She aims it at Billy.   
  
(Trini's heart leaves her body when she watches the rope drop Billy into the icy waters below)   
  
They're all screaming "BILLY" as Rita walks away reminding them that they're not worthy.   
  
The ropes around them loosen and they fall to the docks. Quickly, they all run over to where Billy was. Jason and Zack pull the rope trapping Billy back up. Trini watches as they lower him to the dock and Kimberly checks for his pulse.   
  
"He's going to be okay, right?" she finds herself asking even though deep down she knows he's not. She prays to every God she can think of to save Billy.   
  
Her prayers go unanswered.   
  
Kimberly lowers her head and sobs as she says "He's dead".   
  
Trini turns away from Billy's dead body as she feels the tears trickle down her face. She tries to wipe them away but with every swipe of her hand, the tears fall faster and faster.   
  
Billy is dead and it's her fault. She wasn't strong enough to beat Rita. She couldn't protect him.    
  
More tears fall as she remembers how Billy said that she was with them now and that they had her back. She wishes that she could go back to the campfire and hug him. She wishes that she had told him that she had his back just as much as he had hers. A sob wracks her body when she thinks about how Billy quietly protected her the first time she met him when he helped her clean the slurs off her locker.   
  
He treated her kindly when everyone else treated her like a nobody. And how did she repay him? She didn't talk to him again. She told him they were friends but never held that. When he would smile at her in the halls, she would nod her head.    
  
Billy, the literal embodiment of an angel, was dead and she wished that it was her. Billy was the heart of the small ragtag bunch of screw ups that they all were. He was the one who got excited when he found out they were "Power Rangers". He was the one who would clap excitedly when he landed a move in training the right way.   
  
He had the power within him that Zordon preached about the first time they met him. He was what they were all training to be.   
  
He was a Power Ranger. Trini was not.   
  
She could hear Kimberly's sobs and Zack trying to keep his tears from overcoming him. She could feel their sorrow and their pain. It tore her apart because she caused it all. She cursed herself for being so goddamn weak.   
  
Turning back around, she catches a glimpse of Billy's body and she thinks back to all the times when he made her feel safe.   
  
When he stood next to her calmly and scrubbed her locker. When they found the ship and had discovered Alpha who scared her so she hid behind Billy. He let her go behind him and stood protectively in front of her.    
  
Jason exudes the protection that comes from someone who would do anything for his friends. He makes himself bigger so everything bad in the world would target him first. Zack is the reckless one but exudes the fierce protection that comes from someone who's spent their lives getting hurt. But Billy? Billy exuded that quiet protection. The type of protection you didn't even know you needed. The kind where words were not necessary to show that you were protected. The kind of protection that Trini really needed at that very moment but knew she wouldn't have again.   
  
She looks at Billy and quietly apologizes to him for failing him.   
  
Kimberly's voice interrupts her thoughts. She's demanding all of them help her pick him up. They all lift him and hold him above their heads. Almost as if they are trying to get God or any God to look down and save him. The walk back to the quarry is slow and heart-wrenching.   
  
They get back to the ship and Jason is begging Zordon to save Billy. She blocks everything out in favor of standing in a corner and staring at Billy again. It isn't until she hears, Jason say that he would give his life for Billy's that she agrees at the same time Kim and Zack do. She doesn't even think about agreeing because it's true. She would give her life for all of them the same way Billy gave his life for theirs.   
  
It's quiet for a moment then Kimberly tells them that everything they've done or said before that moment doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is them and stopping Rita. That there's only four of them now but they could accomplish what needed to be done. Everyone nods their agreement to her words. (It doesn't go unnoticed how Kim's eyes dart between Trini and Billy's body)   
  
The moment that they all shared was interrupted by a loud whirring sound that had them all jumping up in confusion. Trini kept herself close to Billy because even though he was dead she still felt the need to protect him. Alpha was yelling at Zordon to step through the morphing grid. Jason, Kim, and Zack were all yelling "what's happening?"   
  
Then it's quiet.   
  
Zordon isn't on the wall anymore and Trini is just confused. But it's not quiet for long. Zordon reappears and tells them that only one can come back. Then there's the unmistakable sound of coughing coming from her left. Her head shoots up and the sight that she sees almost has her falling to her knees.   
  
Billy is alive.

“Did I die?” 

She answers at the same time Kim does.

“Yes”

“No”

She looks at Kim and silently conveys “seriously?” through her facial expression. Zack answers in the midst of their staredown.

“A little bit”   
  
Kim, Zack, and her all crowd around him in disbelief but unwavering happiness that he is with them again. Billy's "I told you we were superheroes" has her believing, for the first time since they found the coins, that they really were superheroes.    
  
Jason and Billy hug. Then they hear him say that they have to go to Krispy Kreme and they all know what they have to do next. They all take their places on the morphing grid and right before Jason steps up, Trini hears him say "It's Morphin Time".   
  
A burst of energy flows out of the grid. For the first time in her life, Trini feels alive and strong. She watches as one by one the armor that they've been desperately trying to find reveals itself to each of them. Trini smiles as she watches the yellow armor appear on her arms. The color that she had loved as a kid but then despised was now her source of strength. (She hoped that 7 year old her would be proud of that fact) The last thing she sees before her helmet covers her face is Kim's beaming smile.   


They did it.   
  
They finally did it.   
  
They're finally Power Rangers.

/ 

Normally, eleven days isn’t a very long time. It’s not enough time to get to know someone, to enjoy a vacation, and it certainly isn’t enough time for a group of strangers to come together as a team to save the world. 

That’s how normal people think.

But the Power Rangers are anything but normal.

If you had told Trini that she would find a coin that led her to a ship buried underground, a pixelated disembodied head on a wall and a talking robot who told her that she was a Power Ranger, and four people that she didn’t know but would become important to her, she would have laughed in your face. But somehow, it happened and honestly she really shouldn’t have been surprised. Life had a way of throwing her for a loop and confusing the ever living shit out her.

She had hated it but now, well now she appreciates it.

The rest of the Rangers may not have been your everyday heroes but they were each other’s heroes. That much was evident during the final battle between them and Rita. 

Wearing the armor for the first time was an experience for all of them. It meant that they had finally earned the right to call themselves Power Rangers. It meant that they could fight Rita and have a chance at winning. They went out and fought with everything that they had. The putties were easy to destroy but Goldar? He was a challenge but with the zords they had a fighting shot and taking down the forty foot tall golden monster. 

It was hard. Extremely hard. 

Rita was on a mission to find the Zeo Crystal and was not happy with the Rangers trying to stop her. She commanded Goldar to crush them and boy did he do that. 

It was an all out war between the zords and Goldar to get him away from Krispy Kreme. The problem was, they were inexperienced with the zords and no matter what they did, Goldar always countered with an even more deadly hit than the previous one. The crater that he had created as he began to dig the Crystal out from the ground was the last line of defense for the Rangers. They created a defensive position just a few yards in front of it in the hopes of throwing everything that they could at Goldar. But with every strike they made, they were pushed further back towards to the crater. It wasn’t until Kimberly’s Pterodactyl zord was grabbed by Goldar and slammed into Trini’s that it dawned on her that they might lose. 

Jason called out “Hold on to each other! Nobody dies alone.” 

Trini feels the sinking feeling of defeat and sadness settle deep in her stomach. She wants to tell them that they all mean the world to her and that it has been an honor to fight by their side. Instead, she quietly cries.

The zords stop fighting and they’re pushed into the flames of the Pit.

All that surrounds her are flames and the screams of her friends. She prays for death to come quick.

Death doesn’t come at all.

Instead, when Trini opens her eyes she sees that the zords have come together to form one huge Zord.  A Megazord like Billy proclaims when he too realizes that they were alive.

It’s a hassle at first moving the Megazord but once they did, Rita and Goldar didn’t stand a chance. They moved in perfect sync and when it finally came time for them to plunge their swords into Goldar they did so without any hesitation. Rita was baffled at her defeat and attempted one final strike but Jason and Trini were ready to slap her straight into space.

They had finally won.

As the Megazord stood proudly above the mangled ruins of Angel Grove, the citizens of the town looked up in awe.

Trini will forever remember the looks on their faces as they stared proudly at their new heroes. 

Back on the ship, you would think that they would be jubilantly celebrating their victory but they were all quiet. The adrenaline that coursed through their veins was gone and they were all exhausted. Zordon looked down on them with what Trini assumed was pride and Alpha made sure to let them all know how thankful he was that they were still alive.

She looks around at the others. The people who eleven days ago were total strangers but were now the people that had saved her life. The people who were so willing to put their lives on the line when they had found out what Rita had done to her. The people who had felt the same pain she did when Billy sacrificed his life for theirs. The people that had wormed their way into her heart even though she had tried to stop them.

A smile slowly spreads across her face as she looks at Billy. The boy who was the first person to be kind to her when she came to Angel Grove. Billy, the boy who spent nearly half an hour helping her clean her locker just because he didn’t want her to be sad. He was the boy that never let his autism define him, choosing to let it be what made him stronger. He was the first person to believe that they were superheroes and no matter how many times he was told they weren’t, he still held onto the belief. His smile, excited claps of his hands, and angelic personality were what held the ragtag group together. 

Her eyes land on Zack next. She chuckles lightly to herself when she remembers their first encounter. He’s a royal pain in her ass but she cares for him deeply. He may be reckless but he loves his team. He’s there to offer a quiet shoulder for you to cry on if needed but also knows when to break up tension with a pun. He’s the boy that saw through her emotions and created the safe space for her to reveal her secrets to the group back at the bonfire. The obnoxious jokes, the quiet strength, and his carefree attitude were what made him Zack. While that may not have been enough for other people, it was more than enough for Trini.

Next in her line of sight is Jason. When she first started at school, Jason seemed to be the big man on campus. The boy who everyone loved and adored. He had everything and then he didn’t. It never occurred to her that maybe he was suffering under the crushing weight of living up to everyone’s expectations. But then she actually got to know him and she realized how genuine he is. He loves his team so fiercely. His face always shows how happy and content he is with his bunch of screw ups. He’s the red ranger and even though he hates being called leader, he is the one that all of them could go to when they needed anything. He’s outspokenly protective yet extremely gentle with all of them. Red suits him well and she is beyond thankful that he is the one the coin chose.

Lastly, her gaze falls upon Kimberly. The girl who was a mystery in the beginning. Kimberly was the one that confused her the most because she couldn’t understand why their connection seemed to be the strongest from the start. Everything about her screamed perfect but it didn’t surprise Trini when she realized that Kim was far from it. She had more than proven her worth to the team and Trini would forever be grateful to have Kim standing beside her. The feelings that Kim had brought out of her were scary until they weren’t. They were inevitable. Two forces that in every life would find each other no matter how long it had been. When Kim looked at her, everything melted away and the world was a beautiful place. Trini wasn’t sure what was in store for them in the future but if it meant having Kim look at her like she put the stars in the sky, then she was ready for whatever came next.

All of them weren’t perfect, not by a long shot. But what they had built was slowly becoming the most perfect thing in Trini’s life.  

As she stood looking at her team, something dawned on her. She removed her power coin from her pocket and held it up. The yellow center glowed vividly when it faced the others. The coin didn’t choose her because of who she was. It chose her because of who she would become. The coins recognized the strength that each of them had within. They had known from the very beginning that all of them were worthy but didn’t reveal that until all of them had learned that themselves. They had shown the brain, former cheerleader, athlete, loose cannon, and nobody that they were more than those titles. 

That together they were more.  That no matter what they looked like or where they came from, they were superheroes.  It didn’t matter that they had saved Angel Grove. What mattered is that they had saved each other. 

She thinks back to how the never ending shitstorm of pain and heartache led her to Angel Grove. But as she catches Kimberly staring at her with a soft expression and the smile on her face that she reserves only for her, Trini can’t find a single reason to be upset.

Instead, she sends a thank you up to whoever is in the sky for putting her through hell because that hell became her heaven. 

**Author's Note:**

> Woooooo ending!
> 
> This fic took me for a ride as I was writing it. I see a lot of myself in Trini and I wanted to add a bit more of a backstory for her.  
> Hopefully, I did her justice because she is an amazing character and I can't wait to see how she develops in the sequel (I'm praying that we get one)
> 
> Come find me on tumblr @infinitychanges and let's rant about how Power Rangers together :)


End file.
